Alum David McCann won an Emmy earlier this year as Editor of ‘A Real Bugs Life – Love in the Forest’. The multi award-winning National Geographic documentary series shows life on planet Earth from a bug’s eye view.
He’s also just worked on the Bristol episode Secret Garden – a BBC1 series commissioned as part of David Attenborough’s 100th birthday celebrations, revealing the dramas unfolding in the hidden wild world of Britain’s backyards.
We spoke to him about his job, why it matters and his dream edit.
Congratulations on your Emmy! And I hear ‘A Real Bug’s Life’ has been nominated for a BAFTA too. It seems like you are passionate about telling stories about nature. Have you always wanted to do that?
I’ve always loved wildlife. Every day I get to come to work and basically try to work out how to make everyone love animals and bugs as much as I do! When I first moved to Bristol, I had no idea that Bristol was what we call the ‘Green Hollywood’. I was so lucky to find myself in the unofficial of capital of wildlife filmmaking.
I’d like to think that after watching one of my stories people will treat these creatures differently, because they are incredibly important. Bugs are the building blocks for all life on Earth. And if we don’t take care of them, we’re in trouble.
Can you explain exactly what was involved in the role of Editor for a ‘A Real Bugs Life’?
The role of an editor is to look at the footage, find out what the story is and create the characters. Through those little head turns, those little moments that really brings in anaudience on the side and get them attached to the character.
Attention spans are incredibly short these days. You really have to suck people in, through their stomach and their heads and their hearts. You turn the insects into little heroes and show that their lives are incredibly fascinating and not that different from our own.
You have to anthropomorphise a bit. Show their loves, their actions and their endeavours. People will engage if they think “do you know what, I can see a little bit of my mum in that spider”!
What are your three favourite bug facts?
Of the 9,000 species of wasp in the UK, about 6,000 are parasitic wasps. They inject their eggs into living caterpillars, and then those eggs hatch and eat the caterpillar from the inside out. That’s how they get their leg up in life!
A peacock spider can see about 100 times as many colours as we can (see peacock spider in top image).
The female luna moth (in the A Real Bug’s Life episode I worked on), lets out one billionth of a gram of pheromone that the male can smell that from over 6 miles away.
And an extra one – a tiger beetle runs so fast that when it’s at top speed, its brain can’t keep up, so it temporarily goes blind. In human equivalent terms, it would be running at about 180 mph!
And finally, tell us what your dream project would be…
Well, I don’t just do natural history, I do all sorts. I write and produce children’s comedies. I’d like to do more of that. But to tell you the truth, I’d love to edit a really big budget horror film, like a Hollywood horror.
When I was younger, my joint birthday and Christmas present one year was this little camera, and I used to just make these horror trailers. I loved the infinite creative possibilities. That’s when I learned that, for me, editing was the most fun and exciting place to be.
David McCann studied BA(Hons) Film studies and Drama, 2009.
A Real Bug’s Life was created by Plimsoll Productions for Disney + and is narrated by awkwafina.
Secret Garden is on BBC1 and iPlayer, telling the surprising stories of the wild characters living alongside us, revealing what they get up to when our backs are turned. Narrated by David Attenborough.
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